EPT
TeamLiquid.net KT-KTF Premiere League Games of the Week, Week Five:
Rage (Kim Hwan Joong) v Kingdom (Park Yong Ook) on Arizona
A truly sensational and nail-biting confrontation between the Devil Toss and the winless Rage. Kingdom (protoss at two) opted for two gate zeals with a later core, while his opponent Rage (protoss at eight) went for one gate and cybernetics core. Kingdom caused all kinds of chaos in his opponent's base with his steady flow of early zealots as Rage seemed to be bizarrely bewildered by the Devil Toss' incessant attacks and showed a distinct lack of both awareness and control in defending his probes.
However, Rage had a surprise waiting for his opponent as he was busy warping in a proxy citadel and templar archives at the five position. At the same time, Kingdom was electing to warp in a third gateway instead of the expected robotics facility and with no forge in sight it looked as though Rage could be on course for his first win of the tournament. Having now converted to dragoons, Kingdom was again putting pressure on his opponent's main and unfortunately for Rage his opponent glimpsed the unmistakable shape of the first dark templar emerging from their gateways. Kingdom frantically started to warp in defences at his own main, attempting to place cannons at the top and bottom of his mineral line. As his dark arrived at the enemy base Rage took down the top cannon, hit some probes then started to slash away at Kingdom's nexus. Kingdom was now warping in a robotics facility and observatory near his bottom cannon but before his first observer was completed Rage's two dark destroyed the nexus.
With no minerals and no nexus, Kingdom showed his true class, refusing to panic and sending his entire force of probes and dragoons at the enemy main. Rage, suddenly realising the danger, was warping in three then four cannons in a bid to protect his main and seal the victory. Kingdom's handling of his last ditch attack was nothing short of mesmerising as he protected his single observer from the cannons, destroyed Rage's cannons and dark templar and took down two zealots even as Rage rallied his own probes in defence. His final depleted force of dragoons destroyed the final combat unit to emerge from Rage's gateways and had the base at his mercy.
For the second week in succession, Rage played his part in what must be considered the game of the week and for the second time he came agonisingly close to winning... but fell short.
TheMarine (Kim Jeong Min) v Yellow (Hong Jin Ho) on Requiem
TheMarine faced up against the red hot unbeaten Yellow in a KTF clash on Requiem. TheMarine (terran at six) delayed his build but eventually opted for two barracks, with Yellow going for a pool and extractor prio to expanding to his natural. As Yellow morphed in a lair and den, his opponent was erecting an academy and factory and sent his first force of marines, medics and firebats towards the zerg natural.
TheMarine tried to sprint through the defences but as Yellow moved to stop him his forces were reduced to just two marines and two medics, which lightly harassed the zerg main. Having seen of the threat, Yellow expanded to two and now had lurkers available and a spire on the way. However, his opponent came at him again quickly. TheMarine's new force of infantry now had tank support and he set to destroying the sunken colonies guarding the zerg base. Yellow's game was shaking from its very foundations but he once again showed his superb judgement and legendary muta micro, picking off one then two then the third and final tank even as TheMarine tried to defend them with his infantry.
Having seen off the latest threat, Yellow started morphing his hive and counterattacked with his flight of mutalisks, destroying TheMarine's almost completed second command centre. The back and forth battle took yet another twist as TheMarine again set up to assault the zerg natural, infantry now keeping a careful eye on the metal as the tanks started their assault. Now, however, Yellow had a new surprise in the shape of a flight of guardians, which laid waste to the attacking infantry as they finished off the natural hatchery.
TheMarine now had his own natural but it quickly came under attack from Yellow's guardians, although the terran army managed to fend off the assault. Yellow was now making full use of his hive tech, as defilers helped him attack again, this time forcing the command centre to lift before moving forward into the terran main. Yellow kept up the pressure, with cracklings terrorising the terran forces. The zerg master delivered a final blow to TheMarine, microing a group of scourge to destroy three science vessels within the space of a few seconds.
Yellow wins a see-saw battle and remains the only unbeaten player in the tournament.
Nal_Ra (Kang Min) v Iloveoov (Choi Yeon Seong) on Arizona
A titanic clash on the dusty plains of Arizona opened in slightly strange fashion with a shot of Oov rubbing his shoulders as if in some discomfort. The OGN commentators speculated about a possible problem but Oov (terran at 11) settled into his game, opening with a one factory early expansion build and attacking early with his first force of marines, two vultures and one tank. Ra (protoss at five) destroyed the tank with his dragoons off of a two gate and range setup.
After his early force was repelled and with his natural now producing resources, Oov quickly moved up to three factories, then four, but his expansion was immediately threatened by Ra with his army of dragoons supported by a shuttle loaded with zealot and dragoon. For a moment it looked as if Oov might be in serious trouble but he rallied his SCVs and managed to force the protoss army back in the course of fierce fighting and despite losing numerous SCVs.
Ra now had his own natural and Oov tried to counterattack with vultures to little effect. In his main Ra had been working on a support bay and he sent his first reaver-laden shuttle towards the terran base, with Oov showing lightning reactions to prevent a devastating destruction of miners, while at the same time starting a new expansion at the eight position. Ra redropped his reavers at the terran natural, destroying some more SCVs, while at the same time moving forward with his main army. Though Ra's protoss forces were unable to break through the terran line he quickly redropped his reavers again at the terran main, getting all but one of the mining SCVs in a devastating blow.
The protoss were now expanding to six, prompting an immediate vulture drop by Oov, neutralised by dragoons arriving in Ra's shuttle. Meanwhile at the eight position the utterly undefended command centre continued to fuel the the terran army, undiscovered by the enemy.
Oov now had a sizable army of vultures and tanks and was expanding again to the one o'clock position. He sent a giant flock of vultures at the protoss natural, destroying a host of probes, and although Ra held the expansion his opponent seemed to be taking control of the game. Ra was waiting for carriers from two stargates to support his outgunned army when he finally discovered the secret terran expansion at eight. Perhaps panicked by his own lack of prior scouting, Ra opted for an immediate attack and sent his entire army to eight. The undefended expansion inevitably fell but Oov seized his opportunity. His increasingly formidable army of tanks and vultures descended on the protoss natural, destroying it in an instant, then rumbled into the main. Ra's two carriers had arrived but their slow assault on the terran army could not stop the utter destruction of the protoss base.
Ra realised his only hope lay with a simultaneous destruction of the terran natural and main and he sent his army up the map. For moment it looked as if he had Oov's defenders outgunned as he approached the terran position but Oov had the defensive advantage and he efficiently used spider mines to deplete the attacking force to almost nothing.
Although Ra's two lonely carriers disrupted a new terran expansion at three they were quickly assaulted by goliaths, ending the game.
An excellent game, although Ra was sorely lacking with his recon. His failure to discover the completely undefended expansion at eight may well have cost him the game as it was that expansion that helped Oov continue his high production level despite losing so many SCVs at his natural and main and eventually turn the game against the protoss.
Other Games:
Mumyung (Seong Hak Seung) v Sync (Byeon Kil Seop) on Nostalgia
A lengthy yet unremarkable game with Sync (terran at one) opening with a standard two barracks build against Mumyung, who opted for early expansion into lair and lurkers at the seven position. Mumyung made the early running but Sync, pumping infrantry out of three barracks, took control of the game and was constantly threatening, especially after a disastrous ling and six lurker attack against the main terran army in which the zerg forces were liquified for almost no gain. Sync took down Mumyung's expansion at the nine position and looked to be on the verge of victory. However, Mumyung made effective use of hive tech, ultras and defilers, to continually extend the game without ever looking like he was actuall going to win. Which he didn't.
GoRush (Park Tae Min) v IntotheRainbow (Kim Seong Jae) on Requiem
Rainbow (protoss at nine) again opted for a cannon rush versus a zerg early expansion, supported by a host of probes from his main. GoRush (zerg at 12) abandoned the idea of the expo and went for an immediate lair, with both den and spire. As the zerg player tried to establish a new expo at three Rainbow started to cannon that site as well, but by this time GoRush had teched to overlord transport and the first group of lings he had ferried out of his main made sure the second attempted expo did not go the same way as the first. With Rainbow's corsairs roaming the landscape and the protoss having taken their natural, GoRush finally broke the original ground containment with muta/ling and started to gradually take control of the game. Rainbow's cause was not helped by ineffective reaver drop attempts at the zerg main, with the protoss player inexplicably ignoring the relatively undefended three o'clock expansion. Rainbow was three times foiled in attempts to expand to 11 and GoRush started to turn the screw with masses of hydralisks, threatening the protoss natural and main. Even as Rainbow obliterated the new zerg expo at five with dropped reavers, his opponent had teched to hive and greater spire and as the zerg destroyed a whole fleet of corsairs with scourge Rainbow realised his cause was hopeless and quit.
Terato (Park Jeong Kil) v ArtofHan (Han Oong Nyeol) on Arizona
Another quick win for Terato, his third victory in a succession. Terato (protoss at eight) went for one gate, core straight to dark templar as he looked to catch his ArtofHan (terran at five) off guard. In his own main, Han put up a single factory before starting work on two barracks. As the first two dark templar emerged from the protoss gateways Han was in the process of making a comsat station but there was as yet no sign of an engineering bay or spider mine upgrades. At a critical moment Han made a critical error, moving his first siege tanks outside of his main at the exact moment that the dark arrived. The templar made short work of the defenceless tanks and Han was forced to use valuable scan energy to keep the cloaked assassins out of his main. However, as the dark renewed their assault, with dragoons for support, and no defence against the invisible attackers, Han quickly quit.
Boxer (Lim Yo Hwan) v Chojja (Jo Yong Ho) on Luna
Boxer (terran at two) opened with a barracks outside his main, quickly discovered by Chojja (zerg at 11). Boxer settled back into a standard two barracks build while Chojja put up a hatchery at the bottom of his ramp in order to guard his choke and a third hatch at his nearby natural. Boxer moved up to three barracks and academy while Chojja went for hydralisks. With no lair in sight and thus no lurkers, Boxer's force of marines, medics and firebats went on the offensive early. As the zerg went up to four sunkens at his choke, Boxer attacked, decimating Chojja's overmatched hydras and destroying the choke hatch without being able to break through to the natural or main. Boxer returned with a tank but by this time his opponent did have lurkers, convincing the terran army to be cautious and wait for imminent science vessels. Chojja was forced to abort an attempted drop as his overlords ran into turrets, marines and tanks at Boxer's main and were forced to flee. Boxer had now taken his natural and was massing giant army, with an increasingly desperate Chojja making a single queen and going up to hive tech. As Boxer finally attacked and started to roll over the zerg defences Chojja made a desperation drop at the terran natural and astoundingly infested the terran command centre. However, it was a hopeless move as Boxer started to raze the entire zerg infrastructure and forced Chojja to leave the game.
[Red]Nada (Lee Yoon Yeol) v July Zerg (Park Seong Joon) on Arizona
Nada (terran at 11) opted for a one rax two factory build against July's orthodox early expo. As the first vulture moved across the landscape, July (zerg at five) immediately started on a spire, with Nada erecting an armoury. Nada made an early breakthrough by spiriting his first four vultures through the zerg choke and into the undefended main, netting a bag of drones and clearing out the miners, who were forced to flee. More vultures harassed the vulnerable rear at the zerg natural as Nada had July chasing the game right from the start. By the time the first mutas were able to deal with the invaders, Nada had goliaths emerging from his factories. After neutralising some vulture harassment, Nada moved down to the zerg natural with goliath and tank, taking down the defensive sunkens, obliterating July's natural and forcing the quick victory.
Cloud (Cha Jae Ook) v GoodFriend (Lee Byeong Min) on Nostalgia
Both players opted for two factory vult and tank but Cloud (terran at five) gained an early advantage after managing to destroy the first tank that had made its way out of GoodFriend's main. GoodFriend (terran at seven) responded by laying down a major minefield near his ramp and moving up to three factories and starport while Cloud went for an armoury. Before Cloud could manufacture his first goliaths GoodFriend had a pair of wraiths and managed to break Cloud's containment by destroying two tanks from the air. This temporary advantage quickly dissipated and Cloud then caught his opponent sleeping with a vulture raid into GoodFriend's main. Having fended off the attack Friend tried to move out with a new army but clumsily allowed a significant amount of combat units to be destroyed by mines. Both players now had their natural expansions but Cloud's concentrations of tanks had allowed him to sieze control of the crucial low centre area from which he could launch attacks. He once again managed to get a flock of vultures into Friend's base, clearingout the natural and causing havoc in Friend's main. With Cloud in complete control of the game, Friend quit shortly after.
And the TeamLiquid.net Player of the Week Award for week five simply has to go to the ice cool Devil Toss, Kingdom, for his stunning comeback against Rage and the unearthly way he handled the last chance attack on the enemy main after having lost his own nexus. Brood War at its absolute finest.
Standings after week five:
Group A:
Yellow 5 - 0
Cloud 3 - 2
GoRush 3 - 2
Iloveoov 3 - 2
Sync 3 - 2
Goodfriend 2 - 3
Mumyung 2 - 3
Nal_Ra 2 - 3
TheMarine 2 - 3
IntotheRainbow 1 - 4
Group B:
[Oops]Reach 4 - 1
[Red]Nada 4 - 1
Kingdom 3 - 2
Terato 3 - 2
Xellos 3 - 2
Boxer 2 - 3
Chojja 2 - 3
July Zerg 2 - 3
ArtofHan 1 - 4
Rage 0 - 5
Yellow! 
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